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Matt Fish, maestro of Melt Bar and Grilled, to appear on NBC's Today Show

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Matt Fish, owner of Melt Bar and Grilled (shown here in his Cleveland Heights location) will demonstrate how to make a great grilled cheese sandwich at 9:45 a.m. Friday, April 11 on NBC's The Today Show.
(Scott Shaw, The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- You can't keep a good man down, or out of the spotlight. Matt Fish, owner of Melt Bar and Grilled restaurants, will get an extra helping of love next week -- when he appears on NBC's Today Show.

During the 9:45 a.m. segment on Friday, April 11, in honor of Grilled Cheese Month (yes, it is a "thing"), Fish will be on the national stage talking about his signature sandwiches.

The 41-year-old Parma native sounds a bit incredulous -- and a whole lot knocked-out -- by the whole thing. Though Fish has a naturally laid-back demeanor, you can hear the delight in his voice as he relates the exchange.

"They called me late last week, out of the blue -- apparently, one of the two producers from the show is originally from Cleveland, and is very familiar with Melt -- and said they're doing a segment on Grilled Cheese Month," Fish says.

Turns out, April 12th is National Grilled Cheese Day (yet another "thing") and Fish says his contact said "So here's a funny question: how would you feel about flying to New York and doing a segment on grilled cheese?"

"And I'm like 'Well, sure, I'll do it,' " he said. "Like, I didn't even have to THINK about it!"

Fish says he'll have from 3-1/2 to 4 minutes to make two different sandwiches on the air. He'll fly in a day early, when an advance run-through is scheduled, to run through the procedures and essentially rehearse. On Friday morning he'll repeat the segment live.

"Because this is geared towards home cooks, they've asked me to make a classic grilled cheese. So I'll make our Kindergarten (their no-frills basic, consisting of slices of fresh bread, the customer's choice of cheese, and add-ons to taste), and as of right now we'll be doing one of our signature sandwiches from our core menu. We're still deciding which one it'll be."

There might be a third sandwich, he adds, "but it'll be mostly a beauty shot, just showing off the sandwich, no demonstrating techniques," Fish says.

It's a great opportunity to showcase Melt restaurants -- the original Lakewood spot has spawned locations in Cleveland Heights, Independence, Mentor and now in Columbus' Short North neighborhood -- but it's also a chance to showcase Cleveland, Fish says.

"Which is why so I'm excited about it," he says. "We can show the nation -- again -- we have a great culinary scene, and what we've been doing for eight years now.

"And it should be fun," he laughs.

Find out more about Melt Bar and Grilled, including locations, menus and monthly specials, by visiting meltbarandgrilled.com

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